Microsoft set to ship Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5

Microsoft is set to ship the next version of its Visual Studio IDE (Integrated Developer Environment) and .NET Framework. Visual Studio 2008 comes packed with more than 250 new features while .NET adds SOA, Web 2.0 and SaaS.

Features in Visual Studio 2008 include:

• Support for LINQ : A new Language Integrated Query (LINQ), to handle query operations directly from the various languages supported within .NET.
• Write applications that work with multiple versions of .NET Framework such as 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5.

Features in .NET Framework 3.5

• Support for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).
• Support for Ajax, JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), REST (Representational State Transfer), POX (Plain Old XML), RSS (Really Simple Syndication), Atom, and several new WS-* standards.

More information:

Microsoft ships Visual Studio 2008 (PC World)

Latest Visual Studio Ready Ahead of Schedule (Internet News)

MS Unwraps Latest Visual Studio and .Net Framework (TechNewsWorld)

Microsoft ships Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 (Ars Technica)